Some links on this frosty Saturday night…
- Nick Piecoro of The Arizona Republic spoke to Diamondbacks general manager Josh Byrnes, who took full responsibility for Eric Byrnes' three-year, $30MM contract. Arizona designated Byrnes for assignment on Friday.
- The Rays have four remaining arbitration-eligible players in Jason Bartlett, Matt Garza, J.P. Howell, and B.J. Upton. The club will stick with their policy of cutting off negotiations after exchanging figures, which happens at noon on Tuesday, writes Marc Topkin of the St. Petersburg Times. Tampa Bay does this to try to bring about a settlement and to avoid settling at an artificial midpoint between the two figures.
- Roch Kubatko of MASNsports.com isn't terribly upset that the O's weren't the club to land Kevin Kouzmanoff. Kubatko understands frustrations over the Orioles' lack of production at third, but notes that the 28-year-old's offensive production was nothing to write home about in 2009. Kouzmanoff hit .255/.302/.420 with 18 HRs for the Padres last season.
- As we heard earlier today, a committee is being formed to work on changes to the amateur draft. The committee will look into making the draft worldwide and instituting a slotting system. Mike Axisa of River Ave. Blues doesn't see any changes being made until after 2011, when the collective bargaining agreement expires.
- The Orix Buffaloes are close to signing So Taguchi, according to a report from Sponichi passed along by Patrick Newman of NPB Tracker (via Twitter). The 40-year-old emerged with the Cubs at the end of last season, making 12 plate appearances in six games.
18 HR’s while half of those games are at home. If he was in a park that suited hitters better, I could see him doing better. Same thing with Beltre. I can’t wait to see how he does moving from Safeco to Fenway.
Yeah I agree with NL_East_Rivalry. Beltre was injured and isn’t the perfect example but Kouz was the best defensive 3rd baseman in Baseball setting a record for fielding percentage and also had 88 RBI’s. Billy Beane yet again with another good trade.
Kouz would do better in a homer friendly ballpark but Oak is the complete opposite of that. I could see him getting 18-25 hr’s in 2010.
~ Ferrariman, I miss Taguchi also, he was a class act
I must have missed when Ryan Zimmerman announced his retirement. Last I checked he was the best defensive third baseman.
The reason Kouz didn’t win a gold glove is beacause his offensive numbers weren’t good at all compared to Zimmerman and his second or third best glove in the NL.
man i miss taguchi in STL..good times. Oh well guess we all gotta move on.
Send an invite to training camp?
Isn’t there already a “slotting” system that nobody pays attention to?
So, if a kid from Latin America can sign when he is 16, will a kid from the USA would be able to do the same?
88 RBIs is very good in an offense that wasn’t too great around him besides adrian gonzalez.
about the home run numbers: petko is a tough park to go yard in. kouzmanoff hit 9 homers at home and adrian gonzalez hit 12…
Orix Buffaloes, not Blue Wave.
Kouz would probably hit 25+ Hr if he played half his games in Camden Yards. That said, he has some fundamental offensive deficiencies. He doesn’t take enough pitches, he can’t reach the ball low and away, he can’t get around on anything hard and inside, and he never gets his feet under him at the plate until July. He needs to be more patient and cut down on the strike outs if he wants to take the next step in his offensive game.
I agree with the premise of what you say, but I am not even sure if he needs to cut out the K’s so much. What he definitely needs to do is increase the walks, almost by any means possible. While he has some pop, his OBP is nothing short of horrific. Career OBP of 0.308 is pretty cringeworthy from a corner infield spot. To be quite honest, Kouzmanoff’s career seems to be looking a lot like Pedro Feliz (good glove, good power, no OBP, no speed).
I agree that he needs to strike out much less or walk considerably more, but history seems to show that these sort of guys don’t seem to turn the corner and suddenly learn how to take pitches better. I’m still a bit hazy on why Oakland gave up prospects for him when it seems like they could have had nearly the same level of talent in the FA pool (i.e. Feliz himself, hah).
I agree that Kouz isn’t miraculously going to start taking more walks. He doesn’t have it in him. That’s why, as a Padres fan, I was not the least bit upset to se him go. He had reached his ceiling. It was time to explore other options, although I am hardly convinced that Chase Headley is capable of hitting for enough power to play 3B everyday. Hopefully either James Darnell or Logan Forsythe can be that guy.
I agree that Kouz isn’t miraculously going to start taking more walks. He doesn’t have it in him. That’s why, as a Padres fan, I was not the least bit upset to se him go. He had reached his ceiling. It was time to explore other options, although I am hardly convinced that Chase Headley is capable of hitting for enough power to play 3B everyday. Hopefully either James Darnell or Logan Forsythe can be that guy.
I agree with the premise of what you say, but I am not even sure if he needs to cut out the K’s so much. What he definitely needs to do is increase the walks, almost by any means possible. While he has some pop, his OBP is nothing short of horrific. Career OBP of 0.308 is pretty cringeworthy from a corner infield spot. To be quite honest, Kouzmanoff’s career seems to be looking a lot like Pedro Feliz (good glove, good power, no OBP, no speed).
I agree that he needs to strike out much less or walk considerably more, but history seems to show that these sort of guys don’t seem to turn the corner and suddenly learn how to take pitches better. I’m still a bit hazy on why Oakland gave up prospects for him when it seems like they could have had nearly the same level of talent in the FA pool (i.e. Feliz himself, hah).
If Selig can get a locked in slotting system for the draft I will take back every bad thing I have ever said about him.
Sorry, not even that would make up for his lack of action on steroid usage. He knew it was going on and didn’t do a damn thing about it, because he was more concerned with selling his soul to the devil to get some fans back.
Why should there be a slotting system. Its the owners of the teams money let them use it how they want.
Well, I suppose you could look at it that way, but owners sort of owe it to the city/state their team plays in to try and field the best team possible, don’t you think?
The reason I’m in favor of a slotting system is so that small market teams wouldn’t draft lesser talent to save money. Like the Pirates did in the first round of the ’09 draft.
Mets should get Byrnes if Arizona releases him for the league minimum. I know he’s an outfielder but he could platoon with Murphy at first with his .284/.345/.511 clip agaist lefties. He has speed and pop and also always gives it his all, seems like just a change of scenery would be good for him like Francoeur.
Is there relation between the two Byrnes?